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Sen. Mary Landrieu will buy health coverage in Louisiana and lose out on federal subsidy

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Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., center, speaking at a Capitol news conference last month, says she and her husband will buy their health insurance from a Louisiana exchange under the Affordable Care Act -- giving up her federal health subsidy.

That decision means she won't qualify for the federal contribution provided to federal employees, including members of Congress and their staffs. It can be as high as $11,377 for a family health plan.

Members of Congress and their staffs must buy insurance through Washington D.C.'s small business exchange to qualify for continued federal health subsidies, under a recent directive from the Office of Personnel Management.

After reviewing their options, Landrieu said she and her husband, Frank Snellings, decided to bypass the D.C. exchange and sign up with the Louisiana exchange for themselves and their two children.

"We are pleased about the number of choices we have to choose from, the value this coverage will provide and that this is coverage our family can count on when we need it," Landrieu said. "In the coming weeks and months ahead, I will continue my efforts to fix and strengthen the Affordable Care Act so that every working person and middle class family in Louisiana and across the country can have affordable, quality insurance that they can never lose."

The New Orleans exchange that Landrieu and her family are using has 41 insurance options, according to the senator's staff.

Landrieu's support for the Affordable Care Act, which has had a disastrous launch with a faltering website, is often cited by Republicans looking to unseat the three-term Democrat in 2014. By buying her policy from a Louisiana exchange, without any government subsidy, Landrieu no doubt is trying to demonstrate she is getting her own family's health coverage from the same Affordable Care Act marketplace used by her constituents.

She has already proposed legislation that would allow Americans to keep individual policies that are being canceled because they do not meet the coverage requirements of the Affordable Care Act -- as long as the insurers explain how the plans fall short of the law's requirements and that better, affordable coverage might be available from the exchanges. The 2010 health law is often referred to as Obamacare.

As a result of her personal decision on health coverage, Landrieu could also lose federal retirement health benefits. To qualify for retirement benefits, a member of Congress or federal government employee must be enrolled in a federal health plan, or, for members of Congress and their staffs, in the D.C. exchange, for five consecutive years before retirement, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

Landrieu turns 58 on Saturday.

The exchanges are intended for people without insurance coverage, or those who are dissatisfied with the plans offered through their employers.

Subsidies are available for families with incomes between $24,000 and $94,000 (the subsidies go down as income levels go up). Landrieu, with a congressional salary of $174,000, clearly would not qualify for an Affordable Care Act subsidy.

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., who has tried unsuccessfully to win passage of legislation denying continued subsidies for congressional members and their staffs, is reviewing his options for 2014 medical coverage from one of the exchanges, according to spokesman Luke Bolar.

Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, Landrieu's most prominent Republican opponent, has said he will buy coverage from the D.C. exchange, along with his congressional staff. But his spokesman said Cassidy will donate his federal subsidy to charity.

Federal employees will continue to get their health coverage under the federal benefits program. But Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, added an amendment requiring members of Congress, and most of their staff members, to obtain health coverage from one of the Affordable Care Act's exchanges, beginning in January, 2014.

The Office of Personnel Management determined that the only exchange from which members and their staffs can continue to get federal subsidies -- equal to 75 percent of the cost of coverage, or a maximum of $11,377 -- is from the Washington D.C. small business exchange.